As the July 1 start of free agency pushes closer, powerbroker William Wesley has been working multiple angles to NBA front offices about possible trades and signings. Here’s his latest: World Wide Wes has been pitching teams with salary-cap space that trading for New Orleans Hornets star Chris Paul(notes) will dramatically increase their chances of signing LeBron James, multiple sources told Yahoo! Sports.

New Orleans general manager Jeff Bower has no intention of trading Paul, but multiple league executives believe that until owner George Shinn closes on the team’s sale with billionaire oilman Gary Chouest, there is a price with which Paul could be pried away.

“He can be had with Shinn in there, but once the new guy takes over, he’s off the market,” one senior front-office executive told Y! Sports.

It all sounds like bullshit to me. I wouldn’t pay attention to any Chris Paul rumours. He is not available. Not for anything less than an MVP caliber player with youth on his side.

The Miami Heat’s draft pick at No. 18 is available, league sources say. “They want to sell it to clear cap space,” one Western Conference executive said

That would be a shame. Miami could acquire a valuable and very cheap role player for their revamped and hopefully title worthy side heading into next season. It would be a waste of a quality and cost effective opportunity to add talent.

Bucks officials have publicly acknowledged they have had trade conversations with some teams in recent weeks, but haven’t divulge the specifics of them.

There was word last week the Bucks had interest in forward Andres Nocioni, but he wound up being included in a multi-player trade package from Sacramento to Philadelphia.

Now there’s some chatter on the NBA grapevine the Bucks may be interested in another small forward – Corey Maggette of the Golden State Warriors.

It’s no secret the Warriors have Maggette on the trading block – even though he is coming off a quality season in which he was the Warriors’ second-leading scorer at 19.8 points a game. He also averaged 5.3 rebounds.

But Maggette has a fairly hefty contract – he still has three years, $31 million remaining on it – and the money-conscious Warriors would like to unload it.

The speculation is the Bucks are offering the Warriors center Dan Gadzuric, who has one year left on his contract for $7.4M, and guard Charlie Bell ($3.8M).

The Bucks are also shopping veteran guard Michael Redd, who will be entering the final year of his contract ($18.3M).

I wasn’t paying this much heed until I saw that John Salmons was opting out of his contract … now, this very much looks a realistic possibility.

Good trade for Golden State. Dodgy but acceptable trade for Milwaukee.

Bird on why he’s reluctant to trade Rush: “I just hate to give up on a young player too soon”

That gives us a good idea of how highly Larry values Brandon Rush, Roy Hibbert and the rest of his young players. Very high, likely too highly … as in unlikely to be traded because rival GMs think that he is asking too much for them.

Sources: The Blazers rejected the Wolves’ offer of the No. 4 pick for Batum a couple of weeks ago.

That is a very interesting trade idea. Probably the right decision by Portland (Wesley Johnson or Batum?).

I like the idea of Minnesota trying to acquire Batum and offering draft picks to get it done because Batum has a lot of potential and I think he could blossom in that Triangle offense … but I’m not sure I’d give up the #4 pick for him. It’s a close call though.

Increasingly loud hints that the New Jersey Nets intend to select Syracuse small forward Wesley Johnson with the third overall pick were initially dismissed as a potential smokescreen New Jersey orchestrated to convince Minnesota — which likes Johnson at No. 4 — to surrender an asset to the Nets for the right to trade up to No. 3.

Not so any longer.

Multiple teams have passed along their belief to ESPN.com that the Nets have serious interest in Johnson at No. 3 largely because they believe it will help them land Utah’s Carlos Boozer in free agency.

That would create a very interesting and talented frontcourt trio of Wesley Johnson + Carlos Boozer + Brook Lopez.

The Nets new starting lineup should be more than capable of winning 45-50 games assuming they have serviceable depth.

According to a source close to Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, the Celtics have put their first-round pick in the NBA draft — No. 19 overall — on the market Wednesday, looking for a suitor.

Ainge hasn’t been enamored with anyone at the spot, according to the source, and is willing to get a return of a future pick.

Very surprised to hear this report. There are a couple of players (Damion James, Larry Sanders) who could be great additions to the Celtics in that draft range.

Hey, have you seen truehoop? Chad Ford had reported that Minny has been sending out feelers for a Jefferson trade and is looking at acquiring Dunleavy, Randolph etc. (e.g. expiring contracts). Is Jefferson’s value really that low? I thought it was be around the solid young prospect range.

My reply

Al Jefferson’s trade value is pretty damn low right now. A lot of people are concerned about his health following his knee injury last season + his inability to regain his best form since returning from the injury + his lack of defensive play and his team’s constant losing.

Al Jefferson’s trade value is well below his value as a player which means both (1) Minnesota should not trade him because they’ll lose out in a trade (2) If they do trade him, someone can get a great deal.

Minnesota desperately wants to break up the Big Al + K-Love combination, with Big Al being the one they’d rather move, but I don’t think they’ll have the offers to get it done. So I don’t expect any trades here.

I wouldn’t get too excited about the Big Al rumours … because his value is so low … but he is on his way out of the club. It’s only a matter of time. I would expect to see something happen in season or next summer.

According to a trusted source, the Wizards and Magic might be discussing a trade involving Gilbert Arenas for Vince Carter.Michael Lee of the Washington Post confirmed the discussions, but there is ‘nothing to it now.’

RealGM Note: Arenas is close to Magic GM Otis Smith from his time in the Golden State front office.

This would be an outstanding trade for the Washington Wizards and a poor trade for the Magic. A huge risk which is too unlikely to work out.

I don’t think we’ll see this trade happen. I’m not convinced that Otis Smith rates Arenas highly enough to take on this type of contract, this level of risk. If it didn’t work out, with Arenas and Rashard Lewis, Orlando wouldn’t have the cap flexibility to correct it.

I think Smith likes Arenas personally and admired what Arenas was able to do in the past but I am unconvinced that he is confident enough in Arenas’ current ability to make this type of a deal.

The New Orleans Hornets’ front office hadn’t wanted to trade its No. 11 pick, but it appears the financial realities of the cash-strapped franchise are making it more likely the team will trade out of the lottery, league sources said late Wednesday.

The Hornets could make a team with cap space take one of their unwanted contracts – perhaps James Posey or even Julian Wright – as a condition for moving into the 11th spot. The Hornets could move later into the first round, where the guaranteed contracts for rookies descend with every spot until the 30th pick. Or, perhaps the Hornets could move completely out of the first round and pick up one or two second-round picks.

The Hornets were believed to be hoping Baylor’s Ekpe Udoh would drop down, but that appears unlikely. New Orleans had strong interest with Kansas’ Xavier Henry and Nevada’s Luke Babbitt, too.

That pick has good value. It would likely end up being a mistake trading that pick.

I’ve been told that the Los Angeles Clippers could trade their No. 8 pick to Chicago for Luol Deng and the Bulls’ 17th pick. I haven’t gotten confirmation on this from a team official, but this trade is feasible because I know the Clippers aren’t enamored with any of the guys they can get with the eighth pick. Also, their biggest position of need is small forward. Adding Deng would give them a starting five of Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Deng, Blake Griffin and Chris Kaman. That’s pretty formidable. While this eats up most of the Clippers’ cap space, they realize they weren’t going to get one of the top-flight free agents anyway, certainly not if Donald Sterling refuses to sell the club.

For the Bulls, this would be an even greater move because they’d clear even more cap space by removing Deng’s $10.3 million salary. When adding the $2.1 million they’d have to pay the eighth pick and subtracting the $1.3 million for their 17th pick, the Bulls would still be nearly $30 million under the cap. That’s nearly enough to offer both LeBron James and Chris Bosh maximum contracts. To form a nucleus that would include James, Bosh, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, you’d think James and Bosh might be willing to give up $1 or $2 million.

Sounds like a real trade to me. A solid but unambitious move from the Clippers and an excellent trade for Chicago.

Adding that extra cap space creates more possibilities for Chicago and they could get a player that better fits Derrick Rose’s game than Luol Deng does.

On a final note, I think the Clippers would be paying over the nose if they made this trade. Deng for straight cap space is a very good offer by itself. Giving up a lottery pick on top of that is too much … that said, I don’t think Chicago make this trade otherwise. They value talent over cap flexibility. The lottery pick is an enabler here for Chicago.

New Jersey are not in love with the players available in the third pick. They like Devin Harris, but again, not in love with him. Yi is irrelevant. Danny Granger is a very valuable wing scorer and they would get a very good draft pick too.

Indiana love Danny Granger. The question is, how much do they like the players available in the #3 pick range? Enough to part with Danny? Ehh

Magic GM Otis Smith said after Thursday’s NBA draft that he had discussions with the Toronto Raptors about a trade that would return former Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu to Orlando. Turkoglu wants out of Toronto after just one season.

“We’ve had conversations with Toronto and nothing transpired,” Smith said.

Other Notes

Several tidbits

Some talk of the Bulls shopping Luol Deng. It’s unclear how hard of a push the Bulls are making. By moving Deng, Chicago could get far enough under the cap to offer two max contracts.

The Magic talked with the Hornets about Chris Paul (Vince + Nelson) but it didn’t go anywhere.

More talk about Cousins going to Sacramento at five + Udoh heading to the GSW at six. Some talk of Aminu to the Clippers at eight.

Chad Ford is saying that the Warriors will make the #6 pick available if someone takes Monta Ellis off their hands … I don’t think there is any truth to this. I only see the Warriors trading Ellis for talent and I only see them trading their lottery pick for talent. Neither for cap flexibility and certainly not combined together for cap flexibility.

I don’t believe for a second that Golden State cannot get an expiring contract for Ellis. They may be able to trade him to a team below the cap this summer without taking back any contracts.

I don’t think the Warriors have any interest in that, yet, though. Give it another 6-12 months before this happens.

Boston is offering their first round pick in exchange for a future first round pick

Memphis is willing and likely to sell one of it’s two late first round picks

New Jersey may part with Yi and Devin Harris on draft night — not convinced NJ will move Harris. I think the Avery Johnson hire was a vote of confidence for Harris. Yi is very much available but it’s hard to see them getting any value for him.

Chicago will not trade pick for cap space in the way Miami did but they are including it as an incentive to take Luol Deng or Kirk Hinrich of their hands. Not much interest in that package at this stage — link